Strangers, yet brothers

Their story

First meeting

Brothers Roger (left) and Nigel Marsh, who share the same father, met for the first time Thursday night at Roger's Waterloo home. Nigel flew from England for the meeting.

In uniform

Supplied by Roger Marsh

Maxine Elliott of Pickering in her Royal Canadian Air Force uniform in the Second World War. In 1944 she was assigned to the post office at the Centralia air base, where she met and married British pilot Roger Marsh.

Maxine Elliott

Supplied by Roger Marsh

Maxine Elliott of Pickering in her Royal Canadian Air Force uniform during the Second World War. She was assigned to the post office at Centralia air base in 1944, where she met British pilot Ramsay Marsh. They married in 1945.

Ramsay with Roger

Supplied by Roger Marsh

Ramsay Marsh with his son Roger Marsh in England in 1946. Roger returned to Canada with his mother Maxine in 1947 and Ramsay did not follow them.

Roger and Maxine

Supplied by Roger Marsh

Roger Marsh graduated from the air cadets in 1964. He's pictured here with his mother Maxine Cross at a graduation ceremony.

Young Roger

Supplied by Roger Marsh

Roger Marsh with his mother Maxine Marsh in 1948 in Pickering, a year after they returned to Canada from England. Maxine and Ramsay Marsh divorced and Maxine remarried in 1953.

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Family photo

Ramsay Marsh's second bride Thelma Kirtland was a beauty queen in England.

Thelma and Randy

Family photo

Ramsay Marsh marries his second bride Thelma Kirtland in England in 1952. She is Nigel Marsh's mother.

Related Stories

After joining the Royal Canadian Air Force, a pretty woman from Pickering is assigned to work in a busy post office at an Ontario airbase. She's 25.

There she's charmed by a British bomber pilot sent to Canada to train. He's 20. They meet perhaps at a dance on the base.

Can you guess the rest? Careful — there are twists and turns.

* * *

Roger Marsh, 67, welcomed a special house guest Thursday. Nigel Marsh, 59, has travelled from Europe to visit Waterloo.

They have never met. They are strangers. They are brothers.

Their story goes back to 1944 when the pretty postal clerk met the dashing British pilot at the Centralia airbase near Exeter. Her name was Maxine Elliott. His name was Ramsay Marsh. He went by Randy.

Their romance led to a wedding in March 1945. Maxine was pregnant. She beamed in her wedding dress. He stood proudly in his uniform. They married in Pickering.

The Second World War put people on the move. Our boys went over there to fight. They romanced British girls. Their boys came over here to train. They romanced Canadian girls. It's what young people do, even more so when life could end at any time.

The Allies defeated Nazi Germany soon after Maxine and Ramsay married. He returned to England and Maxine went with him. Son Roger was born there. Japan had just surrendered.

The marriage faltered. Maxine returned to Canada in 1947 with their toddler. Ramsay wrote letters but did not follow. The couple divorced.

Maxine remarried in 1953 and chose to look forward rather than back.

Roger grew up without memories of a British father who lived across the ocean.

* * *

Fast forward to last March. Roger is retired from his job as a maintenance supervisor. Every now and again he has wondered — what ever happened to my father?

Curious, he goes online and the internet works its magic.

From across the Atlantic, there's a startled response. A British man named Nigel Marsh is also searching online for memories of the father he barely knew.

They're looking for the same man.

It turns out Ramsay Marsh married three times. His first two marriages ended in divorce. Each marriage produced a son. Ramsay had no part in raising them. The half-brothers didn't know about each other.

“I was overjoyed that Roger and I found each other,” Nigel says. “I felt the strongest sense of vindication that I have ever experienced.”

“It's always a thrill to fill in the gaps,” Roger says. “There's closure to it.”

Meeting for the first time Thursday, they are all smiles. Look how much Nigel looks like Ramsay! Look how they both have the same eyes!

There are some twists to accompany the turns in this story.

As young men, both sons wanted to fly, just like their absent father. Roger was an air cadet. He sought a career with the Royal Canadian Air Force until poor hearing dashed his hopes. Nigel joined the Royal Air Force as a youth but could not secure his wings.

What else do they have in common? Both enjoyed a taste of the wild life, just as their father did. Roger recalls with regret the years he spent hanging around outlaw motorcycle clubs. Nigel worked as a scuba diver on North Sea oil rigs and also drove motorcycles.

Both were injured in serious traffic collisions and struggled to recover.

Ramsay Marsh died in 1985 at 61 after a long career as a bookie in his family's betting business. Nigel's disappointed mother, a beauty queen as pretty as Maxine, considered him a scoundrel who liked fast cars and faster women. Maxine felt the same.

Maxine died in 2010 at 90. She once explained that she joined the air force while shopping for a new Easter outfit in Toronto. It seemed a good fit — her father was a veteran and two girlfriends had just joined.

Nigel is still searching for others who might remember their father. He has just a few memories of him.

“I am curious to understand what drove him,” Nigel says. He's hunting for pictures of Ramsay, perhaps posing with the classic cars he liked to collect.

Roger is curious about their father — and also grateful that Maxine chose to have her baby in circumstances less than ideal.

There's a final turn to go with all the twists. Ramsay's third marriage also produced a son. Nigel has met him. In time, all three brothers might reunite.

Nigel Marsh is looking for anyone who remembers Ramsay (Randy) Marsh, who trained in Canada as a bomber pilot. Flyers from across the Commonwealth came here to train in the Second World War.

Ramsay served in Moncton, N.B., from November 1943 through January 1944. He was in Bowden, Alta., from March through May 1944. He was in Brantford from May through July 1944. He was in Kingston, Ont., from July through September 1944 and in Centralia, Ont., from September 1944 through February 1945. Anyone with information can email him at nigelmarsh@hotmail.com